External Hard Drive

I have a 15' Macbook Pro and am in need of some space.. I do want a external hard drive so I can use it with my iMac that my wife uses. I am looking at usb-powered hard drives because my apartment lacks alot of plugs. i am looking at 1 terabyte size. Are there any recommendations for what you consider to be the best?? Thanks.

I've always used Seagate and LaCie. They have served me well and I've had no problems. However, just like anything you will find people who praise and bash any specific product based on their specific positive or negative experience with it. If you need USB powered then the 2.5 external drives are the way to go. I'd suggest just finding what meets your budget best. 1TB drives are fairly new in the 2.5 size and this means they are also a little more expensive. I saw this one at Fry's last week.

hey thanks... coincidentally.. i got some advice from a friend who suggested that exact hard drive from seagate.. after looking at this, i realized it was perfect for what i needed. Thanks for the help!

I recommend Thermaltake BlacX Duet with internal hard disks. The brand of hard disk is less important, though I would personally go with Western Digital, Hitachi or Seagate. You also should store the hard disks in ESD bags (I buy them at staticbags.com) and away from obvious hazards when not in use. I've had lots of bad luck with external hard disks, so I don't buy them anymore. They are just the same thing underneath, but usually hard disk companies use the least reliable hard disk model they have to save on costs (unless it is really expensive). The other benefit of having the internal hard disks is that you can configure them to boot any computer you have (and not just use them externally) inside the computer itself. Also, if you have OS X 10.6.5, you can now format your disks exFAT in Disk Utility and use the disk seamlessly with either Windows XP or later with exFAT support installed for XP or OS X 10.6.5 or later, though you'll want to select Master Boot Record partitioning if you plan regular use with Windows. The only thing I haven't tested this with yet is my AirPort Extreme, but it isn't really necessary in that case since it can read/write HFS+ partitions straight from the router.

I've had lots of bad luck with external hard disks, so I don't buy them anymore. They are just the same thing underneath, but usually hard disk companies use the least reliable hard disk model they have to save on costs (unless it is really expensive).

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The obvious solution to that is to buy the best internal HD you can and put it into an enclosure.

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